Land of Exile, Baya Island.
This was a scenic little island. Only its southern side held a small town with over two thousand permanent residents; more than ninety percent of the island was covered by mountains and jungle.
It was deep in the night. Whether tourists or locals, most had already drifted off to sleep. Only the island's bars remained brightly lit, where young people partied wildly to thumping music.
Just then, a flash of light illuminated the entire town as brightly as day, only to dim again moments later.
Some people sensed something was wrong. They stopped dancing and looked toward the northern center of the island.
"What happened? Why did you stop dancing?" a short-haired, brown-skinned girl asked the boyfriend who had been holding her moments ago.
"Just now, it sounded like there was thunder over there..." The boy looked toward the center of the island. At that moment, an ear-splitting peal of thunder rang out, drowning out the bar music and making the glasses on the counter tremble as liquor splashed out...
The dancers were startled as well and looked toward the source of the thunder. Lights came on one after another in the town's houses, and everyone poked their heads out of windows to see what had happened.
Yet the sky above the island was clear, with a bright moon and sparse stars. There were barely any clouds in sight, much less any thunder.
The island residents looked puzzled. They had lived here for decades and had never seen anything so strange...
At the same time, in a lake deep within the jungle at the island's center, the water was churning and bubbling. Cooked fish floated to the surface one after another, giving off the rich scent of meat. Mist rose above the lake, and a